


Constellations & Caffeination

by Lady_Euphoria



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Voldemort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Lily and Remus are roommates, M/M, Marauders, Modern Marauders (Harry Potter), Multi, Remus is a walking awkward disaster, everyone is happy, mostly - Freeform, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:40:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28585872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Euphoria/pseuds/Lady_Euphoria
Summary: The modern-day, coffeeshop wolfstar AU no one asked for.akaRemus is a sleep-deprived, english lit college student living off of caffeine and sheer will power.Sirius is an art student who works part-time at the local coffee shop.And if it just so happens that their paths cross once or twice...or fifty times, then what else can you call it other than fate?
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Remus Lupin & Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black & James Potter, Sirius Black & Remus Lupin & Peter Pettigrew & James Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 19
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for stopping by and checking this fic out! It's my first time posting on ao3, so I hope you all enjoy it :)

Sirius Black never believed in love at first sight. It was an outdated belief stemming from shallow, hopeless romantics who were attracted to external beauty. It just so happened that external beauty was something Sirius had a lot of, and after bearing witness to his parents’ miserable marriage, he wanted something real. 

So yes, Sirius was  _ very  _ adamant about the non-existence of the concept. 

That’s why he would forever clearly remember September 18th as the day his strong beliefs crumbled like a deck of cards. 

He was working on his thirteenth matcha  _ something  _ of the day and staring wistfully out the window at the wonderful weather. It was rare the sun shined this brightly in the middle of London. 

Directly across the coffee shop, The Bean, was a small music store. The music shop toed the line between high-end chic and charming, antique parisian. ReChords was Sirius’s sole supplier of both guitar strings and vinyls. 

And as fate would have it, also the supplier of soul mates. The love of his life came tumbling out the glass doors and onto the busy sidewalk. 

Literally. 

It looked as if his foot must’ve gotten stuck on the rug at the wrong moment, causing him to fall out of the building. 

_ That adorable bastard.  _

Sirius couldn’t help but watch the man as he crossed the street, heart eyes nearly popping out of his head when he tripped, this time on the curb, and entered the coffee shop. 

Sirius had to physically restrain himself from running over and snogging the awkward man silly when he pulled the push door, glaring at it with contempt as if it had murdered his entire family twice over. 

Sirius was so drawn to the man that he didn’t even notice the poor matcha overflowing out of the cup and onto his hand. 

“Bloody hell!” Sirius dropped the cup into the trash and wiped his hands on the front of his apron before grabbing a new cup. He watched it carefully as he filled this one correctly, and handed it to the waiting girl with an apologetic smile. 

He looked over and saw James finishing a customer’s order, writing the order on a cup. Sirius’s soulmate was up next.

James was supposed to be on the till until shift change, but Sirius decided that was rubbish, nearly shoving him away from it and smiling brightly at the boy. 

“Hey! What the hell, Pads?” James glared at him, moving to take back his spot behind the till. 

Sirius shook his head violently, pointing at the cup in his hands. 

“Remember James?” He said pointedly. “Minnie wanted us to change at—”he glanced at the clock—”2:33 pm on the dot. Best get mixing!” 

James grumbled but complied, marching sulkily off to the drink makers. 

Sirius grinned victoriously and turned to the waiting man. He was better up close. 

He was tall and lanky with the softest looking tawny hair he’d ever seen. From this distance, Sirius couldn’t tell if he had green or brown eyes and settled on hazel. 

“Er, hi?” He said, looking everywhere but Sirius’s eyes. 

“Hello!” Sirius replied, immediately cursing himself for sounding overeager. “What can I get for you today?” 

“I’ll take a cuppa,” he said, fiddling with wallet and digging around for coins. 

Sirius raised an eyebrow. “A cuppa? Are we talking tea, coffee?  _ Matcha?”  _

He flushed a light pink at his mistake before scanning the menu board behind Sirius. 

“I’ll take the morning tea, please.” He continued to count out some money and Sirius watched him for a few moments longer than necessary. 

“What size?” 

He looked up in confusion and blinked at Sirius a few times. “Size?” 

“Yes,” Sirius said, grinning so hard it hurt. “For your drink?” 

“Oh! Er, medium will be fine.” 

Sirius nodded and entered it in the til. “That will be 2.50.” 

The man looked at the small handful of coins and bills in his hand in disdain, having just realized he had counted out the money before knowing the price, and if the look was anything to go by, he’d gotten in wrong. 

He quickly counted the correct amount out and basically threw it at Sirius, pulling the sleeves of his sweater over his hands. 

“What’s the name for the order?” Sirius asked, marker in one hand, cup in the other. 

“Sirius,” he blurted out before immediately throwing his hands over his mouth. Sirius couldn’t hold back the gleeful laugh that escaped him, only for him to turn an even brighter shade. “I’m so sorry! I was reading your name tag. My name is Remus.” 

Sirius smirked and wrote his own name on the cup before handing it to James. James only looked at him curiously when he saw the name but made the tea and handed it to Remus. Remus saw the name scrawled on the side, and ducked his head in embarrassment. He tossed a few coins in the tip jar and dashed out the door, leaving behind a smitten Sirius and a confused James. 

SInce there were no more customers James cleaned up his area by the drink makers real quick before making his way back to the till. He fixed an angry glare at Sirius and pointed his finger accusingly. 

“What the fuck was that about? I know for a fact that thing about Minnie telling us to switch was absolute rubbish.”

Sirius grinned and shoved at James’s hand. “I think I just met my soulmate.” 

James raised a skeptical eyebrow, leaning his weight on the countertop. “He pulled our push door.” 

“I said what I said,” Sirius defended. 

“He called himself Sirius.” 

“I thought it was charmingly awkward.”

“Of course you did.” 

Before Sirius could say anything else, their boss, Minerva McGonagall, came from the back. Immediately, the two boys straightened up and tried to look busy. However, the older woman knew their habits and just fixed them with a pointed glare. 

Although they adored her, Minnie, as they so lovingly called her, ran a tight shop. 

“I expect you boys are keeping busy, yes?” 

“Yes ma’am!” James and Sirius exclaimed, rushing off to find surfaces to clean. 

///

Remus threw the door of his apartment open with a bang and proceeded to unceremoniously drop his backpack on the floor and groan mournfully. He paused his mini rampage to gently set down his tea and vinyl before going and jumping onto the couch face first. 

His roommate just sat in the armchair with an amused grin, waiting for him to speak. 

“I am a disaster. A complete fool. A hooligan. A sweater-wearing, lanky, lump of shame on legs.” His voice came out muffled, his mouth obstructed by the offensive yellow couch cushion.

Lily Evans tossed back her head in a laugh, before standing up. 

“Oh Remus,” she cooed, moving to sit down by his feet. “Whatever you did couldn’t have been that bad.” 

“Lily, it was horrible. I wanted to  _ die.  _ Someone could’ve come right up to me, stolen all my belongings, shot me, and left me for dead and I would've thanked them.” 

Lily patted his calf sympathetically. Remus assumed it was sympathetically, anyways. He had left his face buried in the cushion in hopes of either hiding from the world or accidentally suffocating to death. 

“What happened?” 

Remus let out a long groan before recounting his flounder at The Bean. By the time he finished, Lily was in stitches by his feet. 

“I told you it was bad!” 

“I didn’t think it would be that bad! Remus I thought you meant you dropped your coffee or something, oh that was much worse.” 

Remus, who had rolled over during his recount, lightly kicked at his best friend. “If I dropped my coffee on top of all that, I would’ve dropped to my knees right then and there and begged God to hit me with a bolt of lightning.”

“While you were inside? I don’t think that’d work.”

“It’d be godly lightning, of course it’d work.” 

Lily snorted before tapping his leg. Remus lifted his legs up and she slid off the yellow couch. 

“Come on, let’s make spaghetti. You could use a distraction.” 

Remus sighed mournfully. “I don’t know how to make spaghetti.” 

Lily rolled her eyes in response and grabbed his arms and pulled him into their kitchen. 

For the relatively decent price they pay on the apartment, the kitchen was surprisingly nice. It was large and open with an island that doubled as a breakfast bar and state-of-the-art utilities. Some would have even described it as modern, maybe even sophisticated. Would have, anyways, were it not for the fact the cabinets were a bright blue with his and Lily’s handprints splattered in various locations with red paint. 

Were they going to get their security deposit back? Unlikely. 

But it made them smile every time they entered and that was enough. It reminded him painfully of his family back in Wales and the summers he and Lily would spend together. 

Lily pushed aside a plant pot and clapped her hands. “Who’s ready to get their pasta on?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! Don't forget to leave kudos and comments and add the story to keep following along! I hope you guys are enjoying awkward Remus, because I'm honestly just channeling my inner self at this point. Happy readings

Sirius was having a Not Good day. 

Well, to be fair, it was a decent day. But he was  _ exhausted.  _ From waking up his day had been a rollercoaster of up and down. Trying to keep up with his emotions was tiring. 

His trustee motorbike, belovedly named Elvendork, had broken down on the way to his first class that day. He’d only made it about half of the way there, and not willing to leave Elvendork stranded, had decided to turn around and walk her home. 

This meant that even though he was able to hop into a taxi, he was still a good half an hour late for his figure art class. 

“Sorry,” he waved to the professor before collapsing into an empty seat in the back. It wasn’t his normal spot, but it’d have to do for today.

“ _ Pst,”  _ Sirius hissed to the boy next to him. The sandy haired boy was sketching away furiously in his sketchbook. One glance at it showed that he was here for an elective, not a career. 

The boy looked up and Sirius immediately recognized him. He was one of him and James’s friends from their boarding school, Hogwarts. 

“Pete! I didn’t know you were in this class!” Sirius was mildly offended, to be honest. Peter had literally been to his house numerous times to watch football games and eat pizza since the term started and hadn’t thought it a good idea to mention that they had a class together. 

Peter looked mournfully at what looked like it was supposed to maybe be a person. “I just transferred. Apparently I needed an art credit. Why? I don’t bloody know. I’m a chem major for heaven's sake!” 

Sirius just raised an amused eyebrow and nodded at Peter’s sketch. “Yeah, art is certainly not your thing. What are we doing anyways?” 

Peter sighed, furiously erasing his person? Dragon? Pineapple? 

“We’re supposed to be sketching the Vitruvian Man from memory and then compare it to the original. Then take reference of how off our proportions are.” 

Ah, so it was supposed to be a person. 

“The only problem is,” Peter continued. “I don’t know what the Vitruvian Man looks like other than that he’s a man.” 

Sirius laughed loudly, causing a few people to look over. He simply annoyed them and pulled out a pen and opened his class sketchbook. 

“Here, hold on.” Sirius tied his hair in a quick bun, leaned over his sketchbook and began to draw. Like always, he tapped his foot as he worked and stuck his tongue out ever so slightly. 

Peter watched him eagerly and after five or so minutes, Sirius had a perfectly proportioned, if a bit simplicit, copy of the Vitruvian Man. Peter eagerly expressed his thanks and began to try and draw something similar. Sirius nodded in response and continued to add more details. 

He was glad Peter had joined the figure art class. He wasn’t too fond of most of the other students. They were all very  _ uppity  _ and pretentious and it reminded him of all of his least favorite people from Hogwarts. 

The rest of the class went swimmingly, until of course the girl in front of him thought it would be a good idea to try and flirt. 

Sure, Sirius was flattered and who was he to deny a good stroke of his ego? But in the process of her trying to turn around and talk to him about his hair and “how soft it looks,” she’d knocked over the cup of coffee Sirius had on his desk, causing it to spill over his sketchbook. 

“I’m so sorry!” She tried to soak up some of the spill with some tissues but the damage had been done. Sirius’s sketchbook was soaked. 

He stared mournfully at the leatherbound book, picking it up with two fingers. It dripped the entire way to the trash can. 

Luckily, it was only his class book of assignments and no big projects were in it, but still, it was a hard loss to stomach. 

After class, he and Peter left quickly to go get food from the cafeteria. 

On the way there, Sirius had found a nice crisp five dollar bill on the ground, spotting it at the same time as Peter. 

They exchanged a look, glanced at the dollar, and looked again. They moved at the same time diving for it. Sirius had won though, holding the green bill victoriously above his head. 

Peter swiped for it and groaned when Sirius raised his arm. 

“You’re literally rich, cough it over!” 

Sirius stuck his tongue out and continued walking happily to the lunch hall.

“Hell no, this is buying me a nice warm coffee.” 

Peter scowled and tried to reach for the bill again. “You work at a coffee shop. You basically live off free coffee. I work at an antique store.” 

Sirius just laughed. “That sounds like a you problem.” 

Peter lifted a finger but dropped the topic. 

“Besides, I lost a sketchbook today to a tragic death. I  _ need  _ this Peter. This five dollars literally  _ lifted  _ my spirits. I’ve moved on from my grief. I feel like a new man.” 

Of course, as soon as he said that, some guy skateboarding inside ran smack into Sirius, spilling the guys gatorade all over the front of his shirt. 

“Sorry, bro!” The guy called out, skateboarding away. 

Sirius cursed and began to dab furiously at his top. Peter was cracking up next to him, not making a move to help. 

So yes, Sirius day was a rollercoaster of ups and downs, a trend that continued all through the rest of his few classes up until he got to work. 

He had run home to change, only to arrive late to class. Then, he found out he got an A on his last piece in portrait style painting, but got in an argument with one of his classmates after class about the ethics of plagiarism. 

So when he finally got to the welcoming environment of The Bean, he greeted Minnie jovially and chugged back a cup of black coffee. 

James looked amused when he moved to let Sirius clock in. “Rough day?”

Sirius shrugged. “Exhausting day.” 

His friend nodded understandably and handed him an apron. Much to Sirius’s delight, the cafe was mostly empty. Sirius smiled and began to slip into an easy routine. 

Working with James came as naturally to him as breathing. They had worked beside one another since they were eleven, and eight years of doing so had only made them better. 

As much Minnie liked to say they were heathens together, they both knew that no one worked as well on a shift as they did. 

Sirius had just finished making someone a matcha (god, did he hate those green monstrosities) when a chime above the door rang. 

Sirius’s breath caught in his throat when he saw the guy, Remus, from yesterday walk in. It was as if the fates themselves had brought the love of his life to his doorstep. His Not Good day had just turned Great.

///

Fate brought Remus back to the place he swore he’d never step into again. If fate was a five foot four ginger with a death grip, that is. 

“You can’t avoid The Bean forever, you know,” Lily declared as she physically dragged him down the sidewalk to the damned glass doors of the cafe. 

“Yes I can.” 

Lily just rolled her eyes, opened the doors, and shoved him inside, quickly stalking in after him. 

It was times like these that Remus could clearly see Lily as head surgeon like she wanted to be, bossing everyone around with a stubborn efficiency. 

Afterall, Lily had been bossing him around since they were five and he didn’t see that happening any time soon. 

She walked up to the counter and ignored the brunette on til to read the menu. Remus was trying pitifully to hide behind her, having seen the handsome man from yesterday by the drink station. 

He wasn’t the most successful considering Lily was nearly a foot shorter than him. 

“We’ll take two iced vanilla lattes, please,” Lily said, ignoring the blatant lovey eyes the cashier was giving her. 

“What size?” James, according to his name tag, asked. 

“Small,” Remus said from behind Lily. 

“Large,” Lily corrected, turning to give Remus a pointed look. “You know it’s going to be a long night. You need the caffeine.”

Remus tutted and dropped his head against Lily’s shoulder to suppress his groan. “I forgot about that.”

“Thought so.” She turned back to the cashier. “Both larges.” 

James nodded and punched in the order. “That’ll be—” 

“Free,” a new voice chimed in. All four of them turned to see Minerva McGonagall emerge from the back room. 

“No, no, it’s okay!” Remus tried to protest, but McGonagall would have none of it. 

“It will be free, Remus.” Minnie waved her hand dismissively towards a confused James who just scribbled the order on the cups and passed them to Sirius. 

Minerva, Remus, and Lily had stepped away from the counter but Sirius and James both tried to subtly listen in as she greeted the two. 

“Lily! You look lovely dear.” 

Lily smiled in thanks. “I’m so sorry I haven’t been around to visit you yet. We’ve just been so busy unpacking and everything. Then of course school picked up and everything.” 

“Of course, I could never blame you. You, on the other hand,” Minnie turned to the boy sulking behind Lily, “I can.”

“Sorry, Minnie,” he said. “But it’s only been a month since I’ve been here and—” 

“You decided visiting your godmother wasn’t important?” 

The two eavesdropped both choked when they heard that, shooting one another wide-eyed looks. Godmother? 

Remus had the decency to look ashamed. “I’m here now?” He held up his arms, offering a hug. 

After staring him down for another few moments, he accepted his apology and gave him a tight hug. It was quite the sight to see. James and Sirius’s normally stern boss hugging a guy a foot taller than her. 

Once they separated, Minnie pulled Lily in for a hug as well and told them to come by for dinner over the weekend. They agreed eagerly and grabbed their drinks when Sirius called for them. 

Sirius couldn’t help it. Truly. “Order for Lily and Sirius,” he said with a wide grin. 

Remus immediately turned a bright shade of red and grabbed the drink quickly, nearly dropping it in his rush. Lily laughed and grabbed hers as well. She elbowed Remus in the side as they left. Sirius also couldn’t help the jealous scowl that crossed his face. 

He turned to James only to see a mournful look on his friend’s face as well.

“What?” Sirius demanded. 

“Lily,” James replied mournfully. Sirius raised an eyebrow. “She was the most amazing person I’ve ever seen.” 

Sirius snorted, but quickly scowled again. James looked up and finally saw his face. “What’s up with you?” 

“Remus,” he repeated in a similar tone. “I want to snog him silly.” 

James nodded in understanding. “They did look awfully coupley. Maybe they were just friends?” 

Sirius leveled James with a long stare, not saying anything else. 

James sighed. 

“I feel like I fell in love only to have my heart brutally ripped out of my chest and it’s only been five minutes.” 

“I know the feeling,” Sirius said. 

Both boys sighed once more, resuming their duties with less rigor than before.


	3. Chapter 3

As always, Remus Lupin was very glad he listened to Lily and got a large coffee. They, along with a few other classmates, were five hours into what they called ‘Studypalooza.’ It was one in the morning and yet it only felt like eleven.

Every other week, Remus, Lily, Marlene, and Dorcas got together at Remus’s and stayed up as late as possible, knocking out all of the assignments they had procrastinated with _Dirty Dancing_ playing on repeat in the background (of course, with the occasional _Little Women_ thrown in for Lily’s sake).

Currently, Marlene was curled up on the yellow couch with her head on her girlfriend’s lap. She had tapped out a while ago and had her eyes trained on the screen and one headphone in her ear as she half-listened to a recorded lecture.

Dorcas had her iPad out, initially to review notes, but was currently playing minecraft.

Lily and Remus were sitting by their feet on the bright orange faux-fur rug, still furiously working. As usual, they had lasted the longest.

“Can you pass the…” Lily trailed off, waving her hand vaguely in the direction of Remus. Remus wordlessly grabbed the green highlighter and rolled it over. Lily yawned in thanks.

About an hour earlier, Remus’s caffeine wore off.

“Do you know where my—” he yawned. “—my book went. The one with...with…” He blinked a few times in sleepy incoherency. Behind him, Dorcas let out soft snores.

“The gray one? By the guy who had chronic ulcers? I think you left it in the kitchen.”

Remus groaned mournfully, laying back and letting himself be absorbed by the fluffy rug and closed his eyes.

“I don’t want to move, Petal. I’m tapping out.”

Lily nodded in agreement and pushed books, paper, highlighters, and colored pencils out of the way. Afterwards, she curled up by Remus’s feet and the both of them quickly drifted off to sleep.

///

“Ouch,” Remus moaned the next morning, rubbing his neck and shaking out his limbs.

Marlene ruffled his hair as she walked past with a cup of tea in her hands. “That’s what you get for sleeping in a ball on the floor when you’re six-feet-something.”

Remus took the tea from her hands and sipped it greedily. “I didn’t want to stand up.”

Dorcas looked unimpressed. “Your room is like five steps away, longlegs.”

“Well, I didn’t want to walk,” Remus huffed, even though it was true. Their apartment was small, but it was charming.

The girls had been up for an hour, trying to clean and cook while avoiding the sleeping boy on the floor. They were all dressed and appeared to be ready for the day. Remus was still in his sweater and some sweatpants from yesterday, his hair a mess of curls.

“Re, you might want to get dressed,” Lily said coming out from the kitchen. “You’ve got work in an hour.”

Remus jumped up and glanced at the clock on the wall. Sure enough, he had about an hour until his first shift at ReChords. He groaned and began to trudge his way to his bedroom.

The room was probably the most muted room in the house, something he was grateful for every time he entered. The nice grays and tans and neutrals eased his anxious soul.

He quickly pulled on a pair of clean dark jeans and a dark blue long sleeve shirt. His hair stood up in all sorts of gravity-defying curls and if he had time, he would’ve tried to tame them. Instead, he shoved a beanie on his head (he was pretty sure it was Lily’s) and called it good.

“You three hanging out here for a while?” Remus asked, cutting his bread for the toaster. The Bob Ross themed toaster had been a flat-warming gift from a friend and one of his and Lily’s favorite items, but it was also small. They had to cut the crust of bread before it could fit in the slots. He did so with practiced ease and began to look around for his coat and wallet.

“Probably for a while, then I’ll drive Marls and Dorcas home,” Lily said, handing Remus his toast. Between the two of them, they had one car. It was an old, rusty blue truck from Remus’s mom that appeared to be on it’s last leg of life. The two shared it depending on where they were going and who needed it most that day. Since ReChords was just around the corner from their flat, today trusty old Dumbledore was Lily’s for the day.

“Have a good one, girls,” Remus said through a mouthful of toast, planting a kiss on Lily’s cheek and running out the door.

He checked his phone and saw he’d get to work with time to spare.

Outside the music store, he glanced wistfully at the coffee shop across the street, thinking longingly of caffeine but decided against it. Instead, he turned into the shop.

Above him, the door chimed a light tune and someone he’d never met before was sitting behind the counter. The woman looked to be a few years older than him and was dressed in bright pink colors and had a sweet smile on her face. For a record store, she was in an oddly pristine blouse.

“Um, hello,” Remus greeted, looking around for Mr. Flitwick, the kind man who had interviewed him and given him the job.

“How can I help you today,” the woman greeted in a sickly sweet fashion.

“My name’s Remus. Er, Lupin. Remus Lupin. I was hired the other day? Today’s my first day,” Remus stammered. The woman’s beady bright eyes seemed to be staring into his soul the same way Lily’s sister always did.

“Remus, nice to meet you formally. Filius told me about you. I’m Dolores Umbridge. Come with me.”

He awkwardly followed along behind Dolores to a room in the back. It was small, no larger than the bathroom Remus had back at his parents’ with an old red couch shoved in the corner and a small desk piled with sheet music and records alike. In front of the couch was a glaringly large oil painting of cats.

On the couch was a pretty, plump, red head who smiled cheerily at him when he came in. she reminded him strongly of Lily for a moment.

He stood up and Remus was immediately engulfed into a crushing hug.

“You must be Remus! I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. We haven’t had anyone new for a while. I’m Molly.”

Remus laughed awkwardly, especially when Dolores let out a sharp _ahem_ behind them.

“Molly, you’ll be training Remus for the next few days. I’m going on my lunch.” She left the room after one of her exaggerated smiles and Remus felt better with her gone. He let out a sigh of relief, causing Molly to laugh.

“Umbridge is quite the character. She’s been around for a year, driving everyone insane. I think Filius regrets hiring her every day.”

“Why’s she still here then?” Remus asked, following Molly back into the main room.

“You’ve met the man, too nice to fire anyone for just being a pain in the arse. My boyfriend Arthur reckons we get her to quit. He’ll come in on her shifts with my twins and stir up a storm.”

Remus laughed in response.

“Anyways,” Molly continued. “Over here is where we keep things like guitar strings, picks…”

It was nearing the end of his shift and Remus felt like he had mostly gotten the hang of everything. Some of the things on the till machine were a little confusing because of all the sales and promos the store seemed to be having but for the most part it was going okay.

Molly was a godsend, if he was being honest. Her unfailing energy was a constant behind him, watching to make sure he didn’t make any mistakes.

Luckily, after Dolores came back from lunch, she didn’t stay long, having been given a short shift for the day. She didn’t even wave goodbye when she left.

Finally, Molly came up and patted him on the shoulder. “I’m going to head to the loo and grab a snack. I should only be ten minutes.”

Remus’s eyes widened and he looked at the till in disdain. “But the—”

“You’ll do fine, Remus. You’ve been doing it all day. I’ll be back.” With that, she left quickly through the side door and Remus stared dejectedly down at the counters for a moment and prayed no one would enter the shop.

Of course, as soon as that happened, he heard the familiar tune ring out and his head shot up. Standing in front of him was the painfully attractive guy from the coffee shop.

They stopped and stared at one another for a moment, and Remus was sure he looked like a deer in the headlights. Without saying anything, Sirius spun on his heels to the back of the shop that had guitar strings.

Once Remus was sure he was out of earshot, he pulled his beanie off and ran his hands through the curls and groaned. Why was he so _awkward?_

 _Pull it together, Remus,_ he thought once Sirius rounded the corner.

“Will that be today?” Remus asked, before flushing red. “I mean will that be all, today.”

Sirius let out a laugh and placed the pack of strings on the counter. “Yup.”

Remus scanned the bar code, pushed a few buttons and still in an awkward daze, looked at Sirius and said “That will be 1300 Euros.”

Remus hadn’t even noticed something was wrong until Sirius looked at him like he’d gone insane.

“For...guitar strings?” Remus blinked a few more times, the words and numbers barely registering in his mind.

_Sirius had awfully nice hair._

“Sorry, what?”

“One thousand Euros for strings?”

“Oh!” Remus looked down, thinking he’d misread 13 euros, but sure enough, the screen said 1300. “I—I don’t know what happened.”

He double checked everything and found it was rung up properly. He just ran his fingers through his hair again and made a pained noise in the back of his throat.

Sirius, the epitome of calm and collected in that jacket just looked at him in amusement. His eyes traveling from the guitar strings, up up to Remus’s hair. Remus glanced in his reflection of the glass windows and wanted to melt into the floor.

His hair looked more like an Albert Eisteinesque mess of static and curls. He glanced at Sirius’s nice hair, pulled back into an effortless bun.

“We have to wait for Molly. She’ll know what to do,” Remus sighed, waving in the general direction of where she’d left. They stood in awkward silence for a few moments. At least, to Remus it was awkward. Sirius had wandered off towards the stand of magazines and was flipping through a copy of _The Rolling Stones._

“I’m new,” Remus supplied into the silence, as if it wasn’t obvious.

Sirius quirked an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”

Remus was about to stumble through a reply when Molly came back, ever the whirlwind of smiles and energy.

“Remus!” She called, in a singsong voice. “I’m back—oh Sirius!” Molly and Sirius greeted each other like friends and quickly explained that Sirius was friends with her twin brothers.

After they caught up for a few moments, Remus tried to explain to Molly what happened, waving pathetically at the till.

“Sorry, dear. I forgot to tell you. We had a mix up with the labeling on these in the system. Switched the strings for the actual guitar or what not. It was Dolores’s fault. Can’t do labels and system updates for the life of her. I didn’t think you’d be so unlucky that someone would come in and buy the one thing that was messed up. Here you are Sirius, it’s free today. Now stop breaking your guitar strings.”

Molly had all but shoved Sirius out of the store, realizing Remus’s obvious discomfort and set to fixing the system.

Remus stared out at where Sirius just was and decided he hated Dolores Umbridge. 


End file.
